0:00

This is, he said, a yadiho with

0:03

Eric Winter and Rodalin Fantab.

0:08

How are you guys, he said, A daddy

0:11

stand You know, we have been keeping you laughing

0:13

apparently, so we thought we

0:15

should keep it coming and just

0:18

you know, continue that theme and bring

0:20

on someone who does it for a

0:22

living.

0:22

Yes, Comedian Martin Amini

0:25

joins us today. He's selling out theaters

0:27

all over the country and his new comedy

0:29

special I'm Transcending is about his

0:31

upbringing with immigrant parents, challenges

0:34

of dual cultural influences in a divorced

0:36

household. You know, I love comedians,

0:39

huge fan of stand ups. Can't wait

0:41

to chat more.

0:42

He's pretty awesome. He's dynamic.

0:44

We saw the special, I was laughing

0:47

out loud and we are so so excited

0:49

to have him. Thank you so much, Martin

0:52

for being with us. This is very, very exciting.

0:54

We just saw this special. We were laughing

0:56

so hard.

0:57

As a fellow Latina, I understand

1:00

you. Ah, it's

1:02

pretty cool.

1:03

I'm a big stand up guy. I love stand

1:06

up comedy. I always have. I think

1:08

the craft is so unique and

1:11

it takes like just

1:13

cohones, like a stand up there

1:16

and just tell your story

1:18

and make people laugh as you were

1:20

coming up in this in

1:22

this space as a comedian, and I've

1:24

seen every special. I've seen behind the scenes, I've seen

1:27

Chappelle's. I mean, I've seen everybody's journey.

1:29

I just love comedy. Yeah, what was that like

1:31

for you? And did you have anybody that sort of helped

1:33

shepherd you in this space and the

1:36

first time you went out there and risked it all?

1:38

And what was that like for you?

1:40

Well, the you know, my career in

1:42

stand up has been very interesting. You know, this

1:45

is my twelfth year doing stand up and from

1:48

you know, I have a cousin who actually

1:50

been a comedian for twenty years and I've been able to

1:52

watch him from a distance and I've

1:54

had mentors along the way. Eric

1:56

Griffin was a director of this particular

1:59

comedy special. And for those who don't

2:01

know, Eric Griffin is a very talented comedian. He was

2:03

also on that show Workaholics on Comedy Central

2:06

and he has a lot of you know, his his

2:08

stand up is amazing. So having someone

2:10

like Eric Griffin be there

2:12

and direct me and give me some guidance

2:15

on that big day was was was you

2:17

know so valuable?

2:19

And did you ever I mean even when you were starting.

2:22

And I only asked this because I went and saw a

2:24

special that Bill Bird did that wasn't a

2:26

Netflix special. It was him literally going

2:28

to a small venue to work out jokes, and

2:31

I mean even working out jokes. And Bill Burrow'm just like

2:33

I was laughing at everything he's trying to work out.

2:36

Well, when you when you pick things that you're

2:38

gonna use in your sets, do

2:40

you have a work session in some

2:42

way or do you just sort of get

2:44

the flow of what you think you want to go with and

2:46

boom, and then maybe you make adjustments

2:49

based on how the shows go on beyond

2:51

that first one.

2:52

Yeah, No, it's a good question. The

2:55

way we work it out is, uh, you know, you

2:57

have your set that you do on the

2:59

road and then and for this particular

3:01

special, these jokes where a lot of these jokes were written

3:04

before COVID, and I wanted to kind

3:06

of retire a lot of this material after twelve years.

3:08

A lot of this was written when I was living with

3:11

my parents, I was struggling before I got

3:13

married, and you know, I

3:15

have a lot of new material since then, but these

3:17

particular jokes, I just wanted it to be able to

3:19

live online somewhere, retire

3:22

it at a nice theater, and so I

3:24

don't have to do these jokes anymore. And it was like the

3:26

first chapter of my life slash career.

3:29

It was almost like an introduction to who I am. And

3:31

now when you come see me on the road, I have a

3:33

completely different set. It's more about, you know,

3:36

the next chapter of being married, being

3:38

an adult, finding success

3:41

in the entertainment business, and you

3:43

know, and also navigating the entertainment

3:45

life as a minority who comes from a working class

3:48

background with immigrants. So it's a very unique

3:50

story in the sense of like, you know, we

3:52

have minorities in entertainment, but to

3:55

be able to go to the next level and also

3:57

get married and navigate

3:59

you know, Hollywood as a comedian.

4:02

That's kind of the more of the subject matter I talk about

4:04

now. So what you see on the special is literally

4:06

like when you when I say I'm transcending, it's like, you

4:09

know, I got to this point and then now

4:11

it's about the you know, I shared the story

4:13

about how how I started, and

4:16

if you see towards the end, you know, I talk about paying taxes,

4:18

I talk about getting a lawyer. It's

4:21

more about you know, you can see the beginning of where

4:24

I'm headed as

4:26

an entertainer.

4:27

Is your mom still burning through the cash though that you're

4:29

sending her?

4:30

She definitely

4:33

is. But it's okay. You know, I deserve

4:35

it. You know my mom, she's I

4:38

love her to death and it's an exciting

4:40

chapter. You know, to just share this moment, not just

4:42

with myself, because my family played

4:44

a huge role in my career, you know, just

4:46

just being there and supportive and never really

4:48

giving me major pushback. Of course. You

4:51

know, as immigrant parents, they were very scared

4:53

to see their son going to open mics,

4:55

performing in bars for ten people late

4:57

at night. I'm not sure what the outcome

4:59

was going to and be, but you know, after eleven

5:01

years of being patient, they

5:04

you know, and see me finally make it big

5:06

and and make money on coring. They

5:09

deserve everything. So you know, whatever

5:11

I can do to make sure they have a good life moving

5:13

forward, that's that's that's like my reward.

5:15

You know, there's nothing better, there's no better feeling than taking

5:17

care of your parents, you know, And you.

5:19

Always knew, Martin, you always knew

5:21

this was going to be your path as a as a little

5:23

boy, I'm very funny or I'm introverted,

5:26

but when I see an audience,

5:29

I light up, like, how was it?

5:31

You know, that's a great question, you know. And I

5:35

never thought this was gonna you know, as a

5:37

young kid. I grew up in a Silver Spring, Maryland

5:39

and there you know Dave

5:41

Chappells from Silver Spring, Maryland. But as

5:43

a young kid, I didn't know this was a real

5:46

career. And I think a lot of people with immigrant parents,

5:49

they're usually pushed to more safe, safer

5:51

careers like doctor, lawyer, something

5:54

with where where it's guaranteed,

5:56

you know, stability, And I

5:59

think I think sometimes we get pushed

6:01

back from our immigrant parents because they sacrificed

6:03

so much to come to this country, and for their kid

6:06

to to gamble their life

6:08

after they took so much sacrifice is

6:11

very hard for them to see them pursue a life

6:13

of art, you know. And I

6:16

didn't know stand up was going to be my career until

6:18

later, until my early twenties. Again, when I

6:20

saw my I have an older cousin who made

6:23

it, and that's when I realized,

6:25

you know, oh, this is a this could be a real thing.

6:28

And fortunately

6:31

my mother and father both were

6:33

on board. They didn't. They always

6:35

believed in me. Since I was a young kid. Whatever I did,

6:37

I usually did a good job. Whatever I told them I was going to

6:39

do. I was always a even as a kid, I was a

6:42

kid of my word. If I said I was going to do something, I always

6:44

did it. And I think they they trusted

6:46

me. And now it's paying off,

6:48

you know, in my early thirties. So I'm do

6:51

you have siblings. I have

6:53

an older brother and a younger sister. I'm

6:55

the middle child.

6:56

Oh you're in the middle child.

6:57

What do they do?

6:59

My brother is a loan officer in

7:01

Maryland, and my younger sister

7:03

right now, she's figuring

7:06

things out right now, you know. And so I

7:08

think I'm in the middle. I'm more of the you

7:11

know. I don't want to say I'm the surprise,

7:14

but like it's just an exciting

7:16

chapter for my family because it's happening so

7:18

fast, my success that everyone is kind of like,

7:20

wow, look it. Actually, I think

7:23

they're kind of like, I think they're caught off guard

7:25

by the success. Not because they didn't think I was gonna make

7:27

it, but it's just kind of after

7:30

twelve years, you know, you know, going

7:32

from not being able to buy Christmas presents for anybody

7:34

for ten years, you know, because they and they knew that I

7:36

didn't have any money. But now it's like, all

7:38

right, like what are you gonna get us this year?

7:41

That's so funny, that's amazing.

7:42

People don't realize the grind that is

7:45

entertainment or Hollywood, you know what

7:47

I mean, all of a sudden, you get a break and

7:49

people think you just made it, but you've been grinding

7:51

away for years and years, and that

7:53

people don't understand the early struggles

7:55

to get track.

7:56

From the Latino comedians, which one would be

7:58

like your favorite?

7:59

You know, you know, it's a really good question,

8:02

Rstling, because again, I grew up My mom

8:04

is from Bolivia, and I

8:07

grew up on the East Coast, and a lot of people

8:10

in the entertainment business don't realize, you know,

8:12

the cultural difference is between the East Coast and West

8:14

Coast because West Coast it's

8:16

predominantly a lot of Mexicans. You know, the culture

8:19

is very different in the East Coast. We are more

8:23

we The Latino culture on the East

8:25

Coast has a you know, I grew up in the nineties,

8:27

you know, I grew up on like Floretuno,

8:30

like we had like we had a different

8:32

vibe to our parties than the West

8:34

Coast, you know. And when I moved to La it

8:36

was almost like a culture shock, you know, in regards

8:39

to I didn't have a lot of Mexicans.

8:41

We didn't have a lot of Mexicans growing up in my neighborhood were

8:43

more more it was more Central Americans,

8:45

you know, the Washington, DC area,

8:47

Elsawa, or in the Icaragoa, Hondors, Guatemala.

8:50

And so obviously

8:53

I love George Lopez was one of the He's a pioneer

8:55

in the Latino comics as far as you know.

8:58

Watching him on HBO performed for

9:00

that many people talking

9:02

about his grandma, his his

9:04

his struggle. It was, it was universal.

9:06

It was great to watch the latinos.

9:09

But for me, it was almost like

9:13

I felt like watching Dave Chappelle as a young

9:15

kid had more of an impact because

9:18

just the way he talked. He talked with

9:20

like the same slang that we used to talk in the neighborhood.

9:22

He's like, what up, son, what up? Son? And then we're like, oh,

9:24

so he talks just like us, you know, wow, Like it was

9:27

really cool to see someone uh talk

9:29

the way we used to talk in high school. And

9:31

this is very Oh this is two thousand and one when Chappelle

9:34

put Killing Me Softly, it

9:37

was one of the favorites, and I remember as a young kid, I was maybe

9:39

twelve thirteen watching it. And you

9:41

know, my special I'm transcending is in the same

9:43

theater that he did it.

9:47

Is he Have you met him? Have you met him? Is he

9:49

aware of you?

9:49

I met him, have a picture with him once.

9:52

To me, that's like he's like the

9:55

biggest influence and impact.

9:57

And you know, when I'm around him, I get nervous

9:59

because I'm like, this is the guy who you know, to

10:01

me, has is the highest standard. But you

10:04

know, even with that said, I think like George Lopez

10:06

did so much for the culture as far as

10:08

you know, the way he did it talking about the family,

10:11

the problems, just like it was so

10:13

relatable, you know. And

10:16

most of my audience right now is Mexican. I

10:18

traveled the country. I'm currently in Salt

10:20

Lake City. We did two shows in Salt Lake City last

10:23

night. We had eight hundred people

10:25

and I've never been

10:27

to Salt Lake City in my life. And for people

10:29

to come and see me two sold out

10:31

shows. People drove from Latinos,

10:34

drove from Idaho five hours

10:36

to the show last night. And I'll

10:38

be honest with you, guys, man, I'm very tired right now. We

10:40

did two shows Friday in Las

10:42

Vegas, two shows Saturday in Las Vegas.

10:45

We flew to Salt Lake City yesterday.

10:47

I did two shows last night in Salt Lake City. The

10:50

last night's show, you know, they got

10:52

a little bit of the tired version of me. But my

10:54

wife was with me. She's here next to me right now, and

10:57

she reminded me, like she's like, sweetheart, this is what

10:59

you wanted. You got, this is your dream.

11:02

Your people are final, you're selling out shows,

11:04

people are now driving to see you. Don't forget that. And

11:06

so all of a sudden, it's like

11:08

my medicine, all my fatigue goes

11:10

away. I starts like, you're right, baby. People

11:13

came to see me, they drove five hours. I got to give

11:15

them a show and we

11:17

had a good time. And it's like, uh, whenever

11:20

I feel tired, I always think about, you know, how long

11:22

it took me to be here, and I always

11:24

want to make sure I give the people the best

11:26

performance. They can possibly see. So I always remember

11:28

that.

11:37

I want to ask you something about cultural differences,

11:40

you know, because you and I'm sure you're experiencing

11:42

this. You're doing all these shows and you get a mixture of all

11:44

these different Latinos, Mexicanos, hey believe, Vianos,

11:47

and you get and you know how as

11:49

a person that has been in this industry for a long time, I'm from

11:52

Puerto Rico and we're always

11:54

thinking about how come nobody's cracking

11:56

the Latino code, you know, in terms

11:59

of of uniting everybody

12:01

because we're so similar yet so different. You

12:04

know as a comedian that you actually

12:07

do not on TV that everybody is so far from

12:09

me. You actually have this mixture of cultures

12:11

right in front of your eyes. What do

12:13

you think is that the missing link that

12:16

we are not getting

12:19

to be able to unite everybody and to support

12:21

one hundred percent talking

12:24

about TV, because that's my experience, it's

12:26

not standard comedy, right, Like we come up

12:28

with a Latino show where like five

12:30

of the cast members are Latinos, and

12:32

guess what, we.

12:33

Don't show up nobody watches.

12:35

We actually have African Americans or

12:37

white Americans watch the show.

12:39

More than Latinos. What do

12:41

you think that is?

12:43

Well, I think the question you asked is twofold.

12:45

You said it one from a cultural

12:47

standpoint and then two from a

12:50

TV film standpoint

12:53

of viewership rights, two different things.

12:55

I think just within our first off

12:57

from our community. Number one thing is

12:59

respect. We need to have more respect

13:01

for everyone's culture in

13:03

the diversity within our own Latino community,

13:06

right, that's number one. You know, like I said

13:08

earlier, I'm a nineties baby, Like

13:10

I grew up in the nineties where you know, it was, like you

13:12

know, East Coast is more Puerto Rican

13:14

Dominican driven. Also we have a lot

13:16

of Central Americans, and then you have Texas,

13:19

Arizona, California, it's more Mexican.

13:21

When I moved to California two years ago,

13:23

to Los Angeles, it was my first experience

13:26

dealing with Mexicans in a very

13:28

intimate way. And as

13:30

a comedian, if you want to have any chance

13:33

at this business performing, you have to learn it

13:35

about Mexicans. So I just

13:37

wrote I wrote jokes about Mexican from

13:39

a from an East Coast Latino

13:41

perspective. Yes, I'm Latino, but I

13:43

had to write it from a very like one.

13:45

Of my first jokes I wrote in living in La was

13:48

I didn't know Mexican slang. I didn't

13:50

learn it until I got a Mexican barber moving to

13:52

LA. As soon as I walked in, he just yelled at me. He was

13:54

like, what's up, fool? And I'm like, sir,

13:57

please respect me. My name is Martin Emini, I'm

13:59

your customer, and he goes, no, no, no, fool. That's

14:01

how we talk in LA, Like what the fool is like how we

14:03

say hi? And then so I wrote a joke about the slang

14:06

fool. I didn't I never heard fool

14:08

growing up. And so, and then the next

14:10

thing was feed the man. There's a joke

14:12

they say feed them a lot in LA. You're

14:15

feed them, you feed them me? And I didn't know what that meant. So

14:17

I wrote jokes. So I use words

14:19

from their like from their slang, their culture,

14:21

and I acknowledge it how I didn't

14:24

know. But then I make fun of it, and it's

14:26

almost that's me showing respect to their culture,

14:28

like you know, and it's important to

14:31

acknowledge the difference of all

14:33

the diversity. And I tell this,

14:35

you know, Eric, I don't know. You know you've been married

14:38

a long time, you've been exposed to Latinos

14:40

for a long time. But a lot of people

14:42

outside the culture don't know. Within our culture,

14:45

we're very prejudiced and racist sometimes within our

14:47

own culture. And I acknowledge

14:49

that on stage, and a lot of that is the

14:51

older generation, our parents. You know, they

14:53

come to this country with their own biases, their own

14:56

you know, we have a lot of history of bias

14:58

in our in our background. But when you acknowledge

15:00

it on stage, and and and you

15:02

you kind of make fun of some of the older the

15:05

things that from the older generation, it kind of makes

15:08

our generation laughing. You're like, you're right, Like it's

15:10

it's kind of stupid what our parents used to do. But

15:12

we're the new generation, and it's like putting

15:14

water on a fire that that needs

15:17

to be put out. That's first thing we need to do

15:19

is acknowledge some of our background in their history

15:21

so we can move forward as a as a new generation.

15:23

Right. Secondly, when it comes to the

15:25

Hollywood TV and film media and viewership,

15:29

we have to educate Hollywood. They

15:31

don't know, they don't know anything about it. Like they

15:34

like to take the money, they like, they like the you

15:36

know, they like the you know, the

15:39

viewership, they like the money, but they don't know.

15:42

You know, one of my favorite shows on TV

15:44

just got canceled, This Fool on Hulu, one.

15:46

Of the best, though I didn't know what cancled.

15:49

Yeah, they're not getting a season three, and it's

15:51

like it makes you think, like, man, what

15:53

do you got to do? You know, this is like this came

15:55

from such a the point of view

15:57

from Chris Ostrata and the acting from Frankie.

16:00

Honest, it's like bro, Like that was one of the best shows

16:02

we had on TV. But

16:05

again, I think one thing that it's

16:07

tough because it was an authentic

16:09

story about you know, the Mexican story from East

16:12

LA and it wasn't done in a very stereotypical

16:14

It was just very It was very

16:16

human. It wasn't like characters or stereotypes

16:19

or anything like that. It was more they humanize

16:21

the characters. And I think that's one thing

16:24

that we can do moving forward, is like, yeah,

16:26

share our stories, but make it more human. The

16:29

more human they are, it

16:31

transcends just one culture, it's universal,

16:34

and that's another thing we need to do better is transcend

16:37

you know, I use the word transcend a lot is because yeah,

16:40

just because you grew up in one area doesn't mean it's

16:42

not relatable to a

16:45

forty eight year old who lives in white guy who

16:47

lives in Rhode Island. That's the challenge that we have to do

16:49

as a culture. Yes, we have a beautiful culture.

16:51

It's amazing Latinos, this, Latino's

16:53

that. But in order

16:55

to grow and especially in this country, we

16:58

have to be able to share our story in

17:00

a way that's palatable to the other people.

17:02

You know, you know, And I again, I was

17:05

so lucky growing up where I grew up in Silver Spring.

17:07

It wasn't just Latinos. We had. We

17:10

had a lot of West Africans, you know, we had East

17:12

Africans, you know, Ethiopia and Nigeria.

17:14

We had South Koreans, Vietnamese.

17:17

And when you're exposed to these cultures

17:19

at a young age, you learn like, oh, okay,

17:21

like we have a lot in common.

17:24

And I think that's why in the next twelve

17:26

months you're going to see my name a lot

17:28

and touring and doing out big,

17:30

selling out big theaters. Is because I understand

17:32

this. You know, you have to be able

17:35

to respect other cultures first

17:37

and then you can make fun of them. Once you

17:39

have their respect you you then

17:42

it's almost like giving you the green light. Minorities. We're

17:44

very easy going people. As long as you respect us first,

17:47

then we can make jokes. So that's the key for

17:49

a lot of creators and talent to first.

17:52

You've got to always respect first. Then

17:54

you can tell the story. That's that's number

17:56

one.

17:57

I mean, no, it makes sense. It makes sense, and you know it's

18:00

because I I grew up

18:02

in Los Angeles. I grew up in lat One there, so I funny

18:04

if I grew up around nothing but Mexican even

18:06

it was a joke. And Rosland first met me, she was like, this

18:09

guy is the whitest Mexican I've ever

18:11

met. Like, that's all I knew a

18:13

kin saying yells. I mean, I dated nothing

18:15

but Latino women. I knew the

18:17

Mexican culture. I had no clue about Puerto

18:19

Rican culture. And I think

18:22

what you said sort

18:24

of which is stuff that we try to tackle

18:26

on our end when we do production things.

18:28

But people don't understand

18:31

the differences of how the

18:33

southern part of the U, southern and western part

18:35

of the US is so predominantly Mexican

18:37

and as you get more to the East coast Latinos,

18:40

it's very diverse. Just amongst

18:42

Latinos, and you've mentioned this before, there's a lot

18:44

of prejudices and things

18:46

that come up within the culture. I think as soon

18:48

as you can, like you say, acknowledge, acknowledge

18:50

it all respect everybody within

18:52

the culture, then you can start poking and having fun and

18:55

exploiting the differences, because the differences

18:57

are great. They're actually really funny.

19:00

They could be the same things within

19:02

a culture that a Mexican and perto Rican

19:04

fully would not agree with or get along

19:06

about, and could rip apart each other in a very

19:08

fun way and also in a universal

19:10

way that other cultures would fully

19:13

get. It's just getting that permission

19:15

from everybody and then letting everybody accept

19:17

it and be a part of it. African Americans

19:19

do it incredibly well. African American

19:21

comedy comics do it incredibly well. They can

19:24

joke within their culture very well. They

19:26

have their respect completely.

19:27

One culture though African American

19:29

is one culture.

19:30

If that's one of the differences, it's one culture. It's

19:33

one culture.

19:33

With those are tricky because maybe the Puerto Rican humor might

19:35

be different from the Mexican humor. And I agree

19:37

with you Martin that if the story is universal

19:40

and it's human, you know, it's about the human

19:42

experience. But we are so caught

19:44

up within our own patria. You know that

19:46

we have a hard time. But even Asian laughing

19:49

at something that is actually very funny

19:51

but it doesn't represent me, then

19:53

I'm going to act like it's not funny.

19:54

But you know, Asian culture seems to

19:56

be doing it probably better, like they allow. Ronnie

19:59

Chang has some very funny down ups and he'll say things

20:01

and like they can bounce off of different because Asians

20:03

are obviously all very different culturally

20:05

as well, but they are going to easily

20:08

make fun of each other. And it seems to

20:10

right.

20:10

But I know what, I think they even have it tougher in

20:12

some in some degree in regards like they've been so

20:15

deprived of of having their stories

20:18

told. When a guy as talented as Ronnie Chang

20:20

comes along, it's almost like you got to rally

20:22

behind somebody. The same thing with George Lopez.

20:24

In the nineties, we didn't have any like I didn't have anybody.

20:27

I remember seeing Masdra Brownie

20:29

on HBO in the nineties or in Omi

20:32

Jaliely on HBO and being

20:34

a young ten year old kids saying like, wow,

20:36

this guy said he's Iranian, like on TV

20:38

in a comedy. I'm like, you just pay attention

20:41

just because that's how deprived and thirsty we are.

20:43

When you just hear the words, you know, I'm

20:46

Irani and on TV or I'm you know, it's

20:49

it's like you have to eat. It's like our communities

20:51

have no choice but to rally. And now it helps

20:54

when Ronnie Chang is super talented and he's

20:56

one of the best comics working. But these

20:59

communities we need, we need these stories told,

21:01

we need we don't

21:03

have any representatives, you know, and

21:05

so you know, it really helps when

21:07

you have someone come along who's as talented as Ronnie,

21:10

who was talented as a you know. And

21:12

now we see the new generation transcend where

21:14

it's almost like they don't have to talk about their culture

21:16

because it's almost like the guys

21:19

like George Lopez laid the groundwork for

21:21

a lot of these new generation comics

21:23

who they don't have to identify with the

21:25

culture so much. But I'm in

21:27

my thirties and I still come from

21:29

that we I didn't have that. So for me,

21:31

it's a big deal. It's not like if

21:33

you're in your twenties, it might not be a big

21:35

deal to you because it's normal.

21:38

It's yeah, we're here, we're you know, and

21:40

my parents came to this country. But now

21:42

I'm an American. You know, you don't associate

21:45

with the struggle because it

21:47

was kind of a nineties thing, you know, a nineties thing

21:50

where we were very deprived, early two thousands.

21:52

And you know, that's why when I

21:54

when I say, you know, even though

21:56

my Spanish isn't really like I grew up watching novellas

21:58

with my mom, I grew up watching Mighty Mind with my mom.

22:01

Darlia, Can I ask you how your parents

22:03

met?

22:03

So they met in Virginia. They met in a it's

22:06

a very like romantic in a way. They met in a snowball

22:08

fight. They were having a snay yeah,

22:10

and I think my mom threw a

22:12

snowball and my dad in the snowball fight and

22:14

they locked eyes. And later they found out they

22:17

their friends lived in the same apartment building

22:19

and they were in college

22:22

at the time, and my mom was a part of

22:24

a you know, a Bolivian group of girls,

22:26

and my dad was a part of an Iranian

22:29

group of guys, and I think one of the Iranian

22:31

guys from his group was dating one of my mom's friends

22:33

in the Bolivian group. And you know, back then

22:35

in the eighties, you know, house parties was big.

22:37

So when the Bolivian girls and the

22:39

Iranian guys would get together and they go to the house parties

22:42

and dance, I think my mom

22:44

and my dad kind of like hooked up in that the

22:46

little social circle. So to this day, I

22:48

have a family friends who are also half

22:50

Bolivian, half running from that same group

22:53

from the early eighties. Yeah.

22:55

So yeah, and there's a lot of

22:57

Bolivians. But we have the highest concentration

23:00

Bolivians in Northern Virginia in

23:02

the country. And you know, Iranians

23:04

we have across the country. You know, obviously

23:07

LA we have a huge concentration of Iranians, but

23:09

in the DC area there's also a lot of Iranians. And yeah,

23:12

where I'm from, a lot of people are mixed. Man,

23:14

there's a lot of from the eighties. Man, they got down

23:16

in the eighties. There's a lot of mixed people.

23:28

You said something really interesting to me, and so telling

23:30

when you were talking about your

23:32

parents and you growing up,

23:35

and I'm almost uncomfortable.

23:37

I don't know if you want to talk about this, although you

23:39

said it openly. You know that your

23:41

father had some issues with your mom and he

23:43

was a little bit abusive, and then you'll

23:46

be so painful to you to see your mom that way,

23:48

But then it was so rewarding because your dad to overcompensate,

23:51

will buy you Jordans, and

23:53

you lived in this duality of like, I feel

23:55

bad for my mom, but I'm actually taking advantage

23:57

of the situation. And I can't even

24:00

imagine that trump and the confusion as a kid.

24:02

And you said something that I thought it was funny but so

24:04

truthful when you said, this is my form of therapy,

24:07

sure, like this is how I can actually talk about

24:09

my feelings and heal. I think

24:12

a lot of comedians that's a commonality

24:14

in pain, that they use humor to be able

24:17

to basically control their

24:19

emotions and their upbringing and to kind of like

24:21

comprementalize the pain.

24:24

Well, I think I agree

24:26

with you in what you're saying, and I think a lot of comics

24:28

do that. But that particular joke, again, I wanted

24:30

to you know, it's not something

24:32

I'm proud to. It's more about

24:36

sharing a human story, right, It's

24:38

not about you know, in our culture, a

24:40

lot of subject matter doesn't get shared.

24:43

And I think that's something that that particular

24:46

joke, you know, I wanted to highlight. I

24:50

think for a lot of men in our culture, we don't express

24:52

a lot of feelings, especially the older

24:55

generation, and I think I

24:57

wanted to kind of take a step forward and be like, look,

24:59

man, this is what happen. I'm

25:01

an adult now, I'm able to process my feelings

25:04

and I'm willing

25:07

to have open the dialogue on

25:10

how a lot of us grew up. And I think like we

25:12

need to do something we're as as men

25:15

or adults to grow, you

25:17

know. And it's very hard to grow when you don't address some

25:19

of the things to happen as a young that

25:21

you saw as a young child, you know. And

25:23

I think that was one of my goals

25:25

from that particular joke and just

25:28

in general, like yeah, if you want to, you know,

25:30

you can make a case that comedians we

25:33

have a lot of trauma and this is our way of therapy.

25:35

And it's true, like it's very healing.

25:38

There's no bigger reward when you share a story

25:40

like that and it resonates with a large group

25:42

of people and when they come to you after the show,

25:44

it'say, thank you for sharing that story. You

25:46

know it. You know, I resonated

25:48

with it, and I'm glad you shared it because

25:51

it makes people feel like they're not alone also, you

25:53

know, and yeah, it's one of my goals

25:55

is trying to bring people together as a community and have

25:58

convers conversations that are not necess really

26:00

easy to have. And if you could find a way

26:02

to make a light of it, so it kind

26:04

of gives you that release. Oh okay,

26:07

then I think that's a beautiful thing.

26:09

Has your process as a comedian evolved

26:13

over this past decade, the way you put together

26:15

your jokes, the way you structure your shows, Well,

26:19

I mean, I'm curious about that. And I asked

26:21

that because I watched recently this

26:24

this special on Netflix and if you saw this with

26:26

Kevin Hart and Chris Rock and has about

26:28

them going on tour and the behind the scenes and

26:31

and Chris Rock has all these like note

26:33

stick thems, you know, sticky things everywhere of like all

26:35

the jokes he might jump around to the way he doesn't.

26:38

Kevin Hart's like, well, what, I don't do anything like that,

26:40

you know what I mean? Has your process

26:42

evolved a lot or has it been the same since day

26:44

one? You you put the pens of paper, you

26:47

put some jokes down, you you you

26:49

you know, fiddle with them, you mess with them a bit, and you find out

26:51

how you're gonna structure your a.

26:53

It's a great question. It's a great question. Yeah,

26:56

my process has changed a lot as a as

26:58

A as a new headline here traveling

27:00

the country. I mean, one of the most important

27:02

things is to make sure my jokes

27:05

work across the country. You

27:07

know what, maybe it's funny in Washington, DC,

27:09

or New York or Boston, you

27:12

know, might not be funny in uh

27:14

Tempe, Arizona, it might

27:16

not And it might not be funny in Salt Lake

27:18

City, you know, or Denver, Colorado.

27:21

So I got to go to every city,

27:23

try these jokes, share my stories, see

27:25

what everyone enjoys, what's universal,

27:27

right, and then if

27:30

maybe it's not as funny, maybe like oh okay, they

27:32

didn't like that one as much as DC. Let

27:34

me go back and work on it and maybe get

27:36

more personal, get share, you know, dig

27:38

deeper. I think what you'll see

27:41

on my next special is digging

27:43

deeper. I think this was a great introduction

27:47

to uh, the community. Keep

27:49

in mind, stand up comedy is

27:51

still very new for our community. I

27:54

don't want to say you at the water it down a little bit, but

27:56

again it's it's in a way where it's like to

27:58

this day people come to shows Martin.

28:01

This was my first comedy show. I've never been to a comedy

28:03

show, Thank you so much. This was my first live experience,

28:05

So you want to make sure that you

28:08

know it's palatabilt like people are able to digest

28:10

it. It's not. And then I think once people get

28:12

to know me and know my background, know my story, I

28:14

can kind of dig deeper and get a little bit

28:16

more advanced with some of the stories.

28:19

And because the

28:22

live experience is in stand up is

28:24

a very new art form still and it's still growing

28:26

a lot. And I actually

28:28

own my own comedy club in Washington, d C. It's

28:31

called Roommate Away. It's where I live

28:33

in Washington, d C. And so I'm able

28:35

to go there three nights a week and just

28:37

practice my new jokes and get ready

28:39

for the next door. Yeah.

28:40

Well, that's great.

28:41

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

28:43

That's me my question. Yeah, what's

28:45

next? What's your journey that you well.

28:48

I think just you know, sharing my

28:50

point of view for the next few years on tour and

28:52

then hopefully the goal guys is to kind

28:55

of transcribe this into you

28:58

know, into a screens and

29:00

and and turn these stories into uh

29:03

film or TV. And but

29:05

the goal right now is just to learn how to connect

29:07

to the community on a higher level. Right I

29:10

was able to achieve that with the first special, you

29:13

know, show the community. If you work hard, you're able

29:15

to you know, get to a level where you can perform in a big theater

29:17

like the Lincoln Theater. And now I'm on tour. But

29:20

once I get these stories tightened up, you know,

29:22

maybe team up with the partner, like a writing partner,

29:24

get a nice executive producer. We can put

29:27

together a script that

29:30

touches on a lot of this subject matter that doesn't

29:32

get talked about that we I talk about in my stand

29:34

up and put together an amazing show

29:36

or film for for not just Latinos,

29:39

but for everyone with the you know, a background

29:41

who comes from a working class that you know wants to

29:43

transcend.

29:44

But you want to act, right, you want to I

29:47

would love to act.

29:47

I would love to act. I want to direct. You know, this

29:50

experience with the Special taught me a lot about just

29:52

you know, how to capture it, you know, directing

29:55

and uh yeah, whether you know I play

29:58

a big role in the in the in the project or

30:00

not, I would just I just want to see the stories get

30:02

told in the right way, you know. I

30:04

want I want to see more authentic stories on TV.

30:08

And I want to see real I want to see

30:10

real characters, you know. And

30:12

I think it's really

30:14

exciting to be a part of this new generation. You

30:17

know. I feel like I'm in my thirties,

30:19

but I just feel like, you

30:21

know, I've just been around so much and I

30:23

feel like now they got this new this new wave of

30:26

talent coming up, this TikTok generation

30:28

where it makes me kind of like, okay,

30:30

maybe I'm becoming like the like the older brother

30:32

now. And I would love to I would love

30:34

to help mentor the new talent and you know,

30:36

kind of show them which direction to go

30:38

in for for storytelling.

30:41

It's amazing to finalise. I want to

30:43

talk about your beautiful wife? How

30:45

how long you've been married now

30:47

how many months?

30:48

So we've been married since September and

30:51

so she's actually she's right here next to me.

30:53

I want to.

30:53

See, are you ready to pup up

30:55

for a second.

30:59

We just woke up.

31:00

All

31:03

is so pretty.

31:05

So how did you guys meet? And you're Latina

31:07

from from where? I don't I don't know if you said especially.

31:09

My mother is from the Amazon of Bolivia

31:11

and my father is from Pennsylvania.

31:13

So so you're both believe in that's

31:16

amazing, cool both.

31:17

Have Bolivia's Yeah, that's great,

31:19

that is great. That is a beautiful

31:22

couple.

31:22

Wish the very best. Obviously you're embarking

31:25

on a whole new journey together. That's incredible.

31:28

I love it, man. I feel like we're on the honeymoon

31:30

tour right now. Yeah.

31:32

After the marriage, we went straight to work, and you

31:34

know, without having a supportive partner like Charlene,

31:37

uh, I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything I'm doing.

31:39

So I'm very lucky to have her. And yeah,

31:41

it's an exciting chapter, man. And even like the

31:43

relationships about marriage, that's another thing that I

31:45

want to explore on stage and share my story

31:47

because again, like you know,

31:50

Uh. I think that's something that growing

31:52

up, a lot of us didn't have role models or good

31:54

examples of what a healthy relationship looks like, especially

31:57

now in twenty twenty four in this landscape, you know, with

31:59

social media. So that's another topic.

32:01

I can't wait to explore and share it with

32:04

with my audience. And yeah,

32:06

there's so many stories to be told, you know, and I

32:08

can't wait to do it.

32:09

That's awesome.

32:11

Look out of your life like finding

32:14

a lot of success with your comedy

32:17

now married, happy during

32:19

the world, changing lives, making people

32:22

laugh, you living the dream, and we're very.

32:24

Proud of you. That's awesome.

32:26

Thank you guys. Man. Hopefully next time I can meet you in

32:28

person too.

32:30

Please.

32:31

We will love to see you on stage. That'd be great, man.

32:33

I would love to have you guys.

32:34

Yeah, l that. We definitely want to come.

32:38

We got to do it May seventh at the Comedy Store.

32:40

Netflix is a Joke festival. I want you guys

32:42

there on

32:45

the calendar.

32:46

Yes, I will, and then we'll communicate

32:48

with it, make sure we get in touch. We can we can make this happen.

32:51

Well, yes, I.

32:51

Would love that. I would love that. Yeah, and you can meet my wife, Charlene.

32:54

Yeah, we love that.

32:55

Thank you guys, guys

33:00

that I can't wait to go to the comedy store.

33:02

I want to go so nice,

33:04

so nice.

33:05

So I'm so so happy for him. I love I

33:07

love hearing. Obviously,

33:09

we we do this all the time with different people on

33:12

whether the actors comedians, but like hearing the origin.

33:14

Story story to where

33:16

they are and twelve years

33:19

in the making, the.

33:20

Passion behind his storytelling and it's

33:22

authentic, it's real, it's universal.

33:24

I love it, Martine Amini. Check it out

33:26

special on YouTube.

33:29

We're going to be part of the Netflix. Is a joke tour,

33:31

which is incredible.

33:32

No I know, so check it

33:34

out on YouTube comedy special. I am

33:36

transcending.

33:37

And then we have obviously joining the Netflix

33:40

is a joke tour, which is huge. It's another big jump

33:42

in his career.

33:42

He is doing. He's rocking it. Good for him.

33:45

Everybody. Thank you for listening. You have something you want

33:47

to talk to us about, send us send it

33:49

to our d ms at he said aadho, or

33:51

email us at Eric and Roz at aheartradio dot

33:53

com. Til next time, love it, Thanks

33:55

for listening. Don't forget to write us a review.

33:57

And tell us what you think.

33:58

If you want to follow us Instagram, check us

34:00

out at e said jav Or sens

34:03

at email, Eric and Ross at iHeartRadio

34:05

dot com. He said, JAB is

34:07

part of iHeartRadio's My Pultuda

34:09

podcast network.

34:10

See you next time.

34:11

Bye,